Mark Sandland, who was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in 2014 for the manslaughter of his five-week-old daughter after losing his temper while playing a video game console, has changed his name and is actively operating a home renovation business in Devon.
The original court proceedings established that infant Aimee-Rose was five weeks old when Sandland subjected her to violent shaking at an address in Sussex. Medical staff documented catastrophic internal injuries including multiple subdural haemorrhages across various parts of the brain, massive internal trauma, and extensive bruising spanning the infant’s face, chest, abdomen, hip, and legs. The child succumbed to her injuries four days later in hospital.
During initial police interviews, Sandland attempted to evade criminal liability by fabricating a medical episode, claiming he had suffered an epileptic seizure and fallen on the child. Forensic digital investigators dismantled the claim after discovering a PlayStation controller on the settee alongside search logs on his mobile device confirming he had looked up gameplay walkthrough solutions for Assassin’s Creed 3 immediately prior to dialling emergency services.
Sandland was initially indicted for murder, but the Crown Prosecution Service subsequently accepted a guilty plea to manslaughter on the basis that he lacked the requisite intent to cause death or grievous bodily harm. Passing sentence, the trial judge stated that Sandland had constructed a web of lies to conceal his violent actions against a defenceless child.
Sandland was handed an eight-year determinate sentence and was released into the community on statutory licence after serving four years in prison.
Enquiries have confirmed that Sandland has since changed his legal name to Mark Harwood and relocated across the country to Exmouth, Devon. Under this new identity, he founded and operates MH Carpentry, undertaking internal building and renovation contracts inside private residential properties where homeowners have no awareness of his homicide conviction.
When contacted directly by database investigators regarding his past and his failure to disclose the manslaughter conviction to prospective domestic clients, Sandland became visibly angry and aggressive, demanding to be left alone so he could continue his life.
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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